She Was Sitting

She was sitting at a small cafe thinking about love. Not the silly, head strong antics of youth. But of the bonifide, honest-to-goodness, let's-grow-old-together, take me-take me-take me kind of love. Everyone feels it sometimes. Although, perhaps it's felt best through chocolate? She licked her lips and grinned. Standing, she left her tip on the table and stretched luxuriously, adoring the lazy summer afternoon.

She took a short cut through the part, smiling at the idealic displays of Americana; old couples throwing popcorn to birds, kids squeling with laughter, young couples floating along like they are alone in the world. She felt a sharp pang of regret and leaned up against a tree to take a few deep breaths. She couldn't afford to start thinking about the past now - not when she had been making so much progress. She looked through the leaves up at the sky. The way the sunlight played across her face with the dancing branches reminded her of other perfect summers best left forgotton. She pressed her back against the firm tree trunk and closed her eyes, endulging in the fragile moment.

She felt his hand on the back of her neck, leaning in to kiss her.
Abruptly her eyes flew open, searching for him, but he was gone, the moment broken. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to capture something of the magic that had bewitched her. But it was too late. He was gone.

*** She woke up screaming.
"STOP!!"
After a few seconds she relized where we was. She hadn't dreamed of the accident for months now. She had hoped to be getting better. She lay back down and breathed calmly. She could almost smell the wet grass from that sunny afternoon. She shifted her weight to her other side and got dirt under her nails. Opening her eyes she saw him just before he tackled her, grinning broadly from ear to ear. "Oh no you don't!" And he pinned her to the ground. Just like last time. "Oh come on," he chided, "aren't you going to put up a fight?" Giggling, they rolled around in the grass, wrestling playfully until she triumphantly straddled his waist and had him pinned to the ground. "Now you get to kiss the winner," she said mischieviously, leaning down to kiss him. She came tantalizingly close before jumping up and running through the trees, waiting for him to chase her. They had always been like that; playing games until they fell in love.

She was peeking around a tree when she felt his arms snake around her waist, his had over her mouth to keep her from screaming. She felt sizzling jolts of adreneline slither up her spine and shivered with delight. She licked his hand. Smiling, he bent his head and trailed mind numbing kisses across the nape of her neck. "Tag, you're it" he breathed, just before turning to run away.

Something felt terribly wrong. She felt like she'd seen all of this before and something terrible was next. She saw him dash across the lawn, straight through a gap in the trees. She was chasing him before she realized what was next, comprehension slowly crawling into her brain. She broke through the trees just in time to be blinded by extreme sunlight. Brakes screached somewhere in front of her. She heard him yell and was thrown backwards as he shoved her out of the way. Her eyes finally focused when she saw a truck smash into her fiance's side, sending him flying through the air.

"STOP!!"

She had slumped down at the base of the tree. People in the park were staring at her. She blinked a few times to clear the cobwebs away. A dog barked at her as he and his owner jogged passed. She was back in the park again? What was going on? His shadow swept across her as he leaned down to pick her up. "Okay, okay, so you really ARE ticklish! I won't do that again, I promise," he pledged in a mock-seriouse tone. She looked deep into his eyes, bewildered. His smile faded as concern flickered across his face. "Hey, are you alright my darling?" She couldn't stop stairing at him, dumbfounded. "Hey," he wispered, "whatever it was, don't worry. I'm here now." She elt fis kiss and opened her eyes to tell him that she loved him

She was alone in her bed. When would the dreams end?